I walked across Luxembourg

https://blog.ioces.com/matt/posts/i-walked-across-luxembourg/

by shoobs • 3 years ago

398 234 3 years ago

blog.ioces.com

shoobs3• 3 years ago

A few months back I dragged myself away from Tears of the Kingdom and went on a four day hike across the entirety of Luxembourg.

I planned my route using open source GIS tools, and did the cross country walk over a long weekend back in June.

draven4• 3 years ago

I see you used QGis. Last time I tried it there was no easy way of plugging a router. I switched to QMapShack. It's a bit more complicated to use the IGN service for the maps (whereas it works out of the box with QGis) but there are several options for routers. The offline one (Routino) requires downloading data but it works well. I use it all the time to plan 2-5 days treks in the French Alps. Having the actual elevation profile for a given segment is really useful.

Just thought you might want to try this setup for your next trek!

shoobs3• 3 years ago

Thanks for the recommendation. I used KML files and manually connected them, but a router would've been handy. I'll give it a shot.

tguvot3• 3 years ago

Had a roadtrip in Europe 15 years ago or so with my wife. We planned to stop in Luxembourg for a lunch, but because we failed to find a parking we had to leave the country

janosdebugs• 3 years ago

Parking is a problem in a lot of European cities. Trains are probably a better choice for such trips in Europe.

tguvot3• 3 years ago

trains better only if you want to follow train path. we had a bit of "freestyle" roadtrip (with multiple stops over couple of weeks, not point to point) Dusseldorf to Paris with help of state of the art iGo on asus pda. In Paris we did ditch a car and took train to the city.

avyeed_desa• 3 years ago

I think someone didn't get the joke, or took OP too seriously. No offense to you though.

davidktr• 3 years ago

Parking where you want can be a problem. You won't have issues if you use a parking garage or park in the outskirts and then use public transportation.

dagw• 3 years ago

Trains are probably a better choice for such trips in Europe.

Having 'done' Europe both by train and by car, the trips end up being very different. Trains are great if you want to hit the major cities. With a car you can visit all kinds of small villages, rural areas and interesting nature that you cannot really reach by public transport.

phalf• 3 years ago

Parking is a problem in a lot of European cities.

On the flipside, the inner cities are much nicer. You have fewer of those seas of concrete just for parking. I wish it was even more so and street parking as well as open lots would just not be a thing. If you really need to come by car, put it in some underground parkade (for $$$). Cities are too dominated by cars. They should be there for people, not the other way around.

Wicher• 3 years ago

Parking is a problem? Just find a fence or lamp post and loop a lock through your front wheel and frame triangle. It's free.

dalbasal5• 3 years ago

That's kind of like suggesting wilderness hiking instead of urban sightseeing. I've traveled/toured NL by train and by car. Different countries entirely.

But yeah... In some cities, your best plan is probably to park at the hotel (perhaps on the outskirts) and use trains.

johnwalkr4• 3 years ago

I'm kind of surprised, it was and still is a very car-centric city. The very centre can be busy but these days, with a smart phone you could easily find parking within 500m or so.

tguvot3• 3 years ago

It was 2006-8 or so. iGo on Asus MyPal PDA

smetj• 3 years ago

Great read and endeavour. What a fantastic region to hike, drink the finest beers with some smoked ham and enjoy the golden hour. 2 other great and well documented trails are the Eisleck trail and Escapardenne Lee Trail.

Happy trails!

pavlov4• 3 years ago

The history of Luxembourg is an interesting microcosm of how the fortunes of states and dynasties have ebbed and flowed in Europe over the past thousand years.

There was a time when the House of Luxembourg was the main rival to the Habsburgs for control of central Europe, contributing four Holy Roman Emperors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Luxemburg

The dukes of this area used to be so important to European politics that Henry VIII of England married a Dutch duke's daughter for political reasons (and immediately regretted it of course, as he was wont to do).

The area of the Duchy used to be several times larger, but over centuries it was nibbled away by France, Prussia, and finally the creation of Belgium.

It has been under Spanish rule (those Habsburgs again), then invaded by the French revolutionary republic and annexed into France as a department simply called Forêts (Forests) because the revolutionaries didn't want to keep any names that honored the old nobility. After Napoleon's defeat the Congress of Vienna aimed to restore old borders and reinstate monarchies, but with multiple claims on Luxembourg, it was split and became a grand duchy whose head of state was the King of Netherlands.

It became an independent country in 1890 when the Dutch king died without a male heir. Dutch law allowed the throne to pass to a female child, but the Grand Duchy was under different laws and was inherited by a claimant rather than the new Dutch queen. (Monarchy is pretty weird in practice.)

mcv8• 3 years ago

The reason it was such a strategic position, is because the town was a natural fortress. It's located on top of a high, flat rock, which is riddled with tunnels for gun casemates, making the town of Luxembourg very hard to take.

It was a vital part of the Spanish Road that the Spanish Habsburgs needed to move troops from their lands in Italy to the north during the 80 Years War.

johnwalkr4• 3 years ago

In 1867 by treaty the anything military and the fortress was required to be torn down. Kind of a shame, because just a few decades later fortresses became almost useless in war. It's a bit weird to see the ruins of a fortress and then go to the local museum and realize that it was torn down recently enough that there are tons of photographs of it. On the other hand it allowed the rest of the city centre to be built up.

dalbasal5• 3 years ago

> Dutch law allowed the throne to pass to a female child, but the Grand Duchy was under different laws and was inherited by a claimant rather than the new Dutch queen. (Monarchy is pretty weird in practice.)

Game of Thrones, with its campy portrayal of regal titles and announcements, kind of drives this point home. European aristocracy, especially those derived from germanic and other barbarian cultures, held titles like collectibles. Lordships accrued rather than expanded. The could be dispersed and often were.

If you watch Queen Elizebeth coronation, the list of titles would shame Daenerys Targaryen. It's quite surreal. Queen of Jamaica, Empress of India, Defender of the faith...

Even the 20th century version was not unrelated to real politics, but as you go back, this reflected real political power and machinations. Every title had different rules, different arbiters, and disputes led to actual wars.

pavlov4• 3 years ago

They did love collecting titles. The kings of England also claimed the title of King of France until 1802, even though they lost the very last enclave on French soil in 1558:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_claims_to_the_French_t...

Symbiote2• 3 years ago

Queen Elizabeth II had so many titles they abbreviated them:

(On accession.) "Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of this Realm and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith."

(At death.) "Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_honours_of_...

dghf• 3 years ago

Elizabeth was never Empress of India, not least because India became a republic in 1950, two years before her accession.

pjc502• 3 years ago

(Monarchy is pretty weird in practice.)

Friend of mine back-tested the simple "the next king is the first son of the previous king" against the past 1,000 years of English kings and found it to be true only half the time.

NeoTar• 3 years ago

I did the same - taking only the kings/queens of England (i.e. starting with Alfred and ending with Queen Anne, ignoring those after the unification of the United Kingdom).

Son is by far the most common (21 from 50), followed by brother (6 from 50).

The next two are especially interesting - 5 new monarchs were usurpers (i.e. not closely related to the previous monach) and 3 times the new monarch was also an old monarch (i.e. a previous King was returned to the throne!).

There were 4 or 5 female successions (twice a daughter, twice a sister and once a daughter-but-disputed-succession [i.e. Matilda]).

Only once does it looks like the succession totally jumped a generation, and a grandson succeeded. In every other situation it looks like people were in the same generation (i.e. brother, sisters, cousins) or one lower (sons, daughters, nephews).

And only once did the succession 'jump back' a generation, with Richard III succeeding his nephew.

gottorf4• 3 years ago

Did your friend exclude situations where the previous king had no sons?

Andrew_nenakhov• 3 years ago

Dutch law allowed the throne to pass to a female child, but the Grand Duchy was under different laws and was inherited by a claimant rather than the new Dutch queen

If you are confused by this, try Crusader Kings game by Paradox (I prefer ck2 to ck3) for a good taste of multiple types of inheritance and problems arising from ruling medieval realm and passing all accumulated titles to your heirs.

dkga• 3 years ago

Wow, I wish I had your ability to synthesise a thousand-year history in a few paragraphs in such an interesting and cohesive way!

euroderf3• 3 years ago

Eager to read similar about Lichtenstein, Andorra, San Marino.

zserge• 3 years ago

I hike across Liechtenstein from time to time. A very light but picturesque set of trails for one day (30-50km). I usually start at the south border in a Switzerland town, cross the country up north and enter Austria.

On a much lighter category, someone "hiked" Monaco in a straight line: https://magamig.github.io/posts/crossing-an-entire-country-i...

lb1lf• 3 years ago

...and The Vatican! (I had a beer in Rome, then strolled across The Vatican and three minutes later had another beer in Rome...)

johannes1234321• 3 years ago

Issue with the Vatican in this context so, that major parts of it are blocked off for the public.

CastFX2• 3 years ago

I live in San Marino, let me chime in!

The historic center, which is called San Marino Città, is a gorgeous medieval town and it's also part of UNESCO heritage. I definitely recommend a trip there, if you happen to be somewhere near.

When I went to school there, I regularly missed the bus so I had the chance of doing a few walks down to my home. It's a bit steep, since the town is located at the top of mount Titano at 700m of height, but it's truly charming.

euroderf3• 3 years ago

When I tried to buy stamps direct from SM back in the 70s, and addressed mail to the SM post office, my local (USA) post office did not believe that there was a country with that name. He went thru their giant post office reference book and hey there it was !

euroderf3• 3 years ago

BYW it had a 1500 year anniversary in 1992, yes ? I recall not reading too much about celebrations.

mdrzn• 3 years ago

You could probably walk across and around the whole of San Marino in less than a full day.

yread2• 3 years ago

... and Monaco. Choose one of the roads higher up on the cliffs

jvdvegt• 3 years ago

He links to a very nice government site which seems to have an interactive (and somehow coloured) Lidar map of the whole country [1]. Navigation is a bit awkward (you need to double-click to move around), but you can almost make out car models!

[1] https://lidar.geoportail.lu/

tda2• 3 years ago

Indeed https://github.com/potree/potree has a bit awkward navigation, but there are quite a few nice lidar datasets available to explore with it, like the scan of the Matterhorn. I once used it to explore a dataset made by a photogrammetry drone, was quite nice.

The entire country of the Netherlands is also available here: http://ahn2.pointclouds.nl/ There is no rgb information, only elevation. But you can make out individual power powerlines, the scan resolution is really high.

elAhmo• 3 years ago

This is quite amazing, thanks for these links. Do you have any more info about how was this performed? What is it used for?

Scarblac• 3 years ago

AHN2 was measured between 2007 and 2012. AHN3 from 2014 to 2019 and I believe AHN4 is actually complete now (measured from 2021 to 2022?).

Better resolution, more up to date -- but I don't know of such a nice point cloud viewer for it.

unixhero3• 3 years ago

Trekking poles are not necessary. Focus on stride, balance and core strength.

globular-toast3• 3 years ago

Where have you walked? How far? How much weight do you carry? How old are you?

unixhero3• 3 years ago

For days in the Norwegian wilderness, Australian outback, Japanese mountains.

widforss2• 3 years ago

Trekking poles are not necessary. But they are useful, and he obviously see a potential use for them. Your comment comes across as somewhat rude.

unixhero3• 3 years ago

I can live with that.

draven4• 3 years ago

Shoes are not strictly necessary either, but they help. Trekking poles help, and I also need them to pitch my tent, so I'll keep them.

developer937• 3 years ago

They come as part of the tent or what? Tell me more I'm intrigued.

famahar7• 3 years ago

I walked across Tokyo last weekend. Took me 20 hours. I suck at writing so all I'll say is that everyone should walk across a city. It's a magical experience. Turn off your your phone, bring a disposable camera and a compass and just walk. You'll discover so many personal insights.

tkgally3• 3 years ago

That’s quite a walk! Where did you start and end?

For about ten years, I walked every New Year’s Day from my home near Yokohama Station to somewhere in Tokyo—Ikebukuro or Ueno or Asakusa, about 35 kilometers one way. Very memorable, as you say.

I don’t think I would do it in the summer, though.

famahar7• 3 years ago

Started in Hachiōji and ended at the start of Chiba prefecture. The heat made it tough. I was thinking about doing a walk from Tamagawa station to Yokohama this weekend. I love seeing what's between all the stations and building up a new mental map of the area.

rjh29• 3 years ago

That sounds fun.

I'd recommend Kyoto too. I cycled around it a lot but never got tired of the little side streets, temples and older houses.

w-m• 3 years ago

I’ve often done that in Paris, absolutely enjoyable. Through the city proper you only walk a little over two hours north-south or east-west. With a few detours to points if interest and breaks for coffee it’s one of my favorite ways to spend a half day.

mikhailfranco• 3 years ago

Walk Paris in August when the weather is good, the days are long, and it's empty, for enhanced experience

I once had a long train 'connection' from Gare du Nord to Gare d'Austerlitz, early in the morning, which I decided to walk. Magical.

I took a photo of the Arc de Triomphe in the sunrise without any cars on the Place d'Etiole. Literally zero. I walked across to the Arc.

I have treasured photo, blown up to a poster, which hung on my wall for many years as a student.

throwaway2902• 3 years ago

Not to invalidate your experience in any way but I think it is a special case of walking in any big city you have never been before. As long as it is sufficiently dense/walkable and you don't need to fear being robbed, it's magical. Taipei, Seoul, Bangkok, you name it...

blululu• 3 years ago

FWIW, I’ve walked across San Francisco many times and the longer I live there the more I enjoy traversing it. The city is beautiful, walkable, filled with nice spots to stop for snack/beverage and nearly half the expanse can be covered by walking through Golden Gate Park down to the ocean. I can’t vouch for most cities, but I suspect that a lot of them are much less pleasant underfoot.

famahar7• 3 years ago

I agree. I hated walking in the city I lived in Canada before moving to Tokyo. It wasnt very walkable and you really needed to plan for any type of long walk as you might end up in a place with no food or drink shops anywhere. The way Tokyo is zoned allows for every possible convenience I need within a mile of everywhere I walked. I felt extremely safe at all times too which made things way less stressful and allowed me to be completely in the moment.

The_Colonel• 3 years ago

What was the distance? Tokyo seems immense and seems difficult to cross efficiently (you have to make a lot of small detours).

famahar7• 3 years ago

Total was 90km. It was a mostly straight shot from west edge of tokyo to the east edge passing through central tokyo. It's one of many routes and I only saw a small slice of it. It's a bit of a labyrinth at times if you don't stick to the main roads. I hit a lot of roadblocks and winding paths through residential areas. I didn't want to overplan though. Getting lost was part of the goal. All I knew was that I had to head east.

developer937• 3 years ago

If you want to keep your phone on, street complete can be very rewarding, especially in places with not so much osm coverage.

arcanemachiner• 3 years ago

https://streetcomplete.app/

abdusco• 3 years ago

Thank you so much. I read about this app here, but I couldn't find it later when I moved to Germany. I'll use the shit out of this app.

famahar7• 3 years ago

Great idea! Will be taking this on all my long walks. Tokyo is lovely for this. Neighborhoods are so dense.

sph3• 3 years ago

If one cannot afford to travel, videos such as these are a good alternative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgfd-uWTVwg (Kyoto under the rain)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgYPErtoljI (A stroll in a small town near Tokyo)

jvm___• 3 years ago

This was my early pandemic habit. Watch a long, walking only, YouTube video of some far off place. The best ones had no talking, just the ambient sounds and sometimes a on-screen note about something you were looking at.

The fascinating thing was watching pre-pandemic videos and your own response to groups of people and hearing coughs inside buildings.

tetrep2• 3 years ago

While a compass helps with orientation, it doesn't help you find where you are or where you're going, so a map might be a good addition (or a replacement, as I find it pretty trivial to orient myself in a city when given a map).

Why a disposable camera? I would think any user preferred camera would be fine, even a cell phone (just put it in airplane mode to avoid distractions).

famahar7• 3 years ago

With a disposable you'll need to be more intentional about how you want to capture moments. You only have 20 shots and no extra features to create the "best" shot. You begin to really value moments when you know that it'll make the cut for one of the 20. And you don't over think it. Just a quick snap is all you can do. Every shot matters but at the same time doesn't.

gullywhumper• 3 years ago

For my 30th birthday a group of friends and I walked the perimeter of Manhattan island. Except for a section along the Harlem river, there are paths along the water the entire way so it required almost no navigation. We picked up and dropped off friends along way that only wanted to do parts of the walk. And we stopped at several bars too, meeting other friends that just wanted to have a drink. We started at 8am and finished just after 4am. I would definitely do it again, even without the friends or bars - but they definitely made it a memorable adventure.

gcanyon• 3 years ago

I've biked that route several times, but I bet we got entirely different impressions due to travel method.

screye• 3 years ago

Manhattan is my favorite city to walk in alone.

Manhattan can be enjoyed without ever bringing your gaze to the ground level. The diversity of architecture means that every block feels fresh. World renowned classics, the sheer scale of central park and the greatest hits of art-deco. Pair that with new spots like the Highline, Hudson yards, Little island.... and it keeps on giving.

And then you come back down to earth and Manhattan also happens to be the best city for people watching. What a delight !

cpursley• 3 years ago

You can't really walk across North American cities, they just don't have the pedestrian infrastructure.

macintux• 3 years ago

Sadly true. I’ve walked miles across parts of Indianapolis where I’ve been at significant risk of being hit. No sidewalk, and bridges are hair-raising.

tornato7• 3 years ago

Most cities have a coastline or a river that you can walk a great distance along.

cdelsolar2• 3 years ago

I walked across most of Barcelona a few years ago, fantastic experience. On the few solo journeys I've made I get a ton of walking in like this, but yeah, you definitely need a rest day or two.

pengaru• 3 years ago

I've walked across SF multiple times, it is fun, but maybe doesn't qualify being not even 10 miles. A fit person can easily run it.

gghhzzgghhzz• 3 years ago

That's a far far bigger endevour than my efforts.. but I do love walking from a city to the airport, dragging my carry-on if necessary.

The last part can be a bit stressful, as airport terminals are not always made for pedestrian access. But it's very satisfying to feel like you have 'escaped' a city under your own steam as it kind of falls apart and back together.

lm28469• 3 years ago

There is a name for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dérive

famahar7• 3 years ago

Ooo, thanks for the link. Led me to this interesting app with the same concept

https://www.randonautica.com/

simonebrunozzi• 3 years ago

I follow Craig Mod [0], who regularly walks in Japan. You might find him interesting.

[0] https://craigmod.com/

globular-toast3• 3 years ago

I've now completed several multi-day walks. At some point I plan to walk across Britain on the Coast to Coast path. I've walked across Spain and Gran Canaria. Maybe I should write those up on my blog...

MHM5000• 3 years ago

definitely do that!

ghaff4• 3 years ago

There are a lot of good long distance walks in the UK. Not having done the coast-to-coast personally, I will say I've heard from various people that the part in the middle of the country is less interesting than the two ends given the highways etc.

coldtea3• 3 years ago

Sounds more impressive if you don't know Luxembourg is at max 50 miles long...

not_alexb• 3 years ago

Wow. As someone who has driven from LA to Seattle without breaks quite a few times (which is around 1,000 miles), that really puts in perspective how small Europe can be at times. I guess that shouldn't be surprising as that's similar to the distance between Berlin and Moscow.

varjag• 3 years ago

Well yeah, Luxembourg is smaller than basically entire US Pacific Coast for sure. Most places are.

coldtea3• 3 years ago

that really puts in perspective how small Europe can be at times

Well, Europe is not exactly small. Luxemburg is just a small country.

Europe is 3.93 million sq mi. The contiguous US is 3.1 million square miles (3.6 if we include Alaska) [1]. So Europe is quite bigger. The European Union countries alone are over 50% of the contiguous US.

So that would be like judging the US as small by considering how small Rhode Island is (which is roughly the size of Luxemburg).

I guess that shouldn't be surprising as that's similar to the distance between Berlin and Moscow.

Well, Berlin is almost centered in Europe, and Moscow is in the very east of Russia, so that's not very surprising. On the other hand, "the European route E45 (...) with a length of about 3,225 mi is the longest north–south European route (some east–west routes are longer)".

For comparison NY to LA is 2,790 miles (so shorter than that), and even Portland, Maine to San Diego is 3,090 miles (again shorter).

[1] With an area of 10.2 million km² (3,938,000 sq mi), Europe is 20% larger than the contiguous United States. The European Union has an area (without the UK) of over 4.23 million km² (1.6 million sq mi). How many countries are there in Europe? Europe is shared by 50 countries.

KineticLensman• 3 years ago

There is a popular coast-to-coast walk in the UK that runs across the top of England that is approx 100 miles in a straight line. No-one in Britain is more than about 70 miles from the sea.

mrpopo• 3 years ago

That comparison makes no sense. Hawaii island is 100km large and it doesn't say anything about how small the US are.

LorenPechtel8• 3 years ago

Europe is a little bigger than the US. It's just it's divided into countries while we are divided into states.

BitterPanda2• 3 years ago

Love it! I use organic maps on a daily basis and it is an awesome tool even if you're just commuting.

darkwater• 3 years ago

TIL about it and I'm gonna try it for sure. Yesterday I had a very bad experience with a "Garmin Connect" generated route for gravel bike, by checking it in Organic Maps I could probably have avoided the issue.

mcv8• 3 years ago

I have it too, but often forget to use it in favour of Google Maps, but Google Maps is terrible for anything not in a car or train, and OSM always has fantastic detail for hiking trails. Every vacation I find myself switching to Organic Maps.

This vacation it helped us find a trail to a really beautiful waterfall in Switzerland.

SSLy• 3 years ago

Google Maps whole use case is finding restaurants and pubs in new places, and that's about it.

janlaureys• 3 years ago

I've been in Luxembourg many times on our way from Belgium to France or Germany, but only last year I visited it for the first time. We did one of the Mullertal trails in 3 days and it's an absolutely beautiful little country.

pjc502• 3 years ago

Fans of this sort of thing may enjoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_of_Gifts : "it is a memoir of the first part of Fermor's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34". Extremely lyrical style full of historical context.

codr7• 3 years ago

I'd definitely recommend poles.

They enable using the entire body when walking and act as additional points of balance which means you don't have to focus as much on just staying upright, it's like having two extra legs attached at your elbows.

jillesvangurp• 3 years ago

That and memory foam / gel pads in your shoes. I walk a lot since the lock down and I've had knee issues in the past. Good gel pads help and using your knees with light exercise actually improves things. I Mostly wear sneakers. Hiking shoes tend to be a bit more rigid and have less shock absorption.

The poles might help as well. Nordic walking, is a thing that a lot of cross country skiers do in Scandinavia to stay in shape during the summer. Also nice for people with balance issues or weak backs of course. Done properly, it makes for an intensive workout.

developer937• 3 years ago

Nordic walking seems to be popular among people of late middle age in Germany too.

maxhille• 3 years ago

You should not get kee problems from walking. Maybe your gait is somewhat unnatural?

Fortunately I never had problems like that but I am sure using barefoot shoes (Fivefinger in my case) improved how I walk. When I am not using those I use zero drop Trailrunners (Altra Lone Peak) which kind of force you to use your front foot more.

Elho• 3 years ago

wauw, you inspired me.

I dont live that far from luxembourg i'm planning to hike your trail.

i'm planning on doing it with a tent in my backpack. Did you came across some official campgrounds? Or is it legal to camp wild in luxembourg?

Thanks

shoobs3• 3 years ago

There are multiple official camping grounds and caravan parks on the route. Unfortunately wild camping isn't allowed anywhere. I know that some people still try it, and probably so long as you're somewhere off trail, camp late and leave early nobody will bother you.

thatannoyingguy• 3 years ago

I don't want to be one of those people, but: Woohoo, our tiny country has been mentioned on the Internet!

yreg• 3 years ago

Could be perhaps done as one of the easier straight line missions[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoWizard#Cross-country_missio...

c-fe• 3 years ago

It was attempted/done already though i dont remember their success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fEtvKVVVw

In general, as a luxembourger, i am intrigued by doing it, though there are several hurdles: - lots of villages, with gardens you cant walk through - various highways that are illegal to cross probably, and dangerous, though feasible. - some big cliffs that are very dangerous. I refer to some of the images in the original post

Agingcoder3• 3 years ago

Many years ago I was traveling around Asia and came across a Spanish traveler called Samuel who was walking from Barcelona to Kathmandu.

I don’t know if he made it, but he made a lasting impression on me.

Agingcoder3• 3 years ago

Édit : he had been in a car accident, and couldn’t use his right arm.

LorenPechtel8• 3 years ago

There are parts of the world on such a trek that these days I would not want to cross by vehicle, let alone on foot.

In the 70s, though, I was with my parents on the Delhi-Tehran portion of the old Kathmandu-London route. I'm only seeing recollections of the old trips, though, no indication that groups are doing it now.

Agingcoder3• 3 years ago

Yes. Even 15-20 years ago, parts of Iran / Pakistan ( Baluchistan) were very tricky, and while on the road I met people who got kidnapped and eventually ransomed. Afghanistan was of course not a recommended path either.

I think in the 70s people went through Afghanistan, the Khyber pass and then Pakistan/Peshawar, which is a very bad idea these days.

Maybe I’ll see Khyber pass one day, I don’t know. The Hunza valley in northern Pakistan was incredible enough. Stay safe first !

Edit : this assumes you’re an obvious tourist. If you’re a local I guess things are very different

uwagar2• 3 years ago

how are people able to walk 100kms in 4 days with no rest days.

i just can walk 8 kms every day :(

prawn2• 3 years ago

25km isn't too rough unless you're copping a lot of ups and downs, or don't enjoy walking. Helps if you start early to cover ground and give yourself time to rest.

Our 4yo daughter did day hikes in the 15-20km range a few times last year, in mountainous terrain. I think attitude and resilience are key.

In this case, one advantage was the author having a 7kg pack and using accommodation/food along the way rather than carrying a tent, sleeping gear, food, 2-3L of water, etc. Starting with day hikes or walking part of your commute is an easy way to build up to trying longer adventures.

uwagar2• 3 years ago

4yo hikes 15-20kms? man, sources please.

yread2• 3 years ago

Napoleon's soldiers marched 120km in 2 days! With weapons and gear, in enemy country, without wibrams, gel pads, walking poles or socks.

ryankrage77• 3 years ago

I was wondering this too. Last time I did a ~15km walk, my legs and feet were really aching at the end of it. I think I could have done another 15km back if I had no other choice, but it would have been miserable. As it started to rain, I got a lift back instead.

LorenPechtel8• 3 years ago

Of course. If you're not used to that kind of thing you will be aching. If you're used to it, though, it's not hard.

ghaff4• 3 years ago

A lot depends on the terrain and the condition of the trail/road. (Pavement does tend to be a bit harder on your feet than a nice dirt trail.)

25km (~15mi) per day on level terrain on a path in good condition is a good walk but not anything exceptional. If there are ups and downs and the trail is rock and rough that's a whole different story.

LorenPechtel8• 3 years ago

It depends on how much you do it.

25 km/day, flat terrain, light pack--I have dietary issues that could prove problematic for a four-day trip (expending 4,000 calories in a day, not an issue. Consuming 4,000 calories in a day would be hard--I would worry about bonking) but I fairly routinely hike 25km in a day and with nearly twice his load (I'm typically in the middle of nowhere, if I have to push the button help would likely be hours away--my safety standard is I should be able to survive the night) and rarely less than 500m of climb over the day.

wink• 3 years ago

I was a bit surprised that Luxembourg is actually quite a bit bigger than I had thought, especially as I wasn't too far off with the population. In my mind it wasn't SO much bigger than the other small European countries it's often lumped together with. Time to visit, I guess :P

koyote• 3 years ago

It's four times larger than Singapore!

TacticalCoder• 3 years ago

I was a bit surprised that Luxembourg is actually quite a bit bigger than I had thought

I live in Luxembourg now and it's not that small. There are actually various little cities and going, say, from Luxembourg city to Esch-sur-Alzette, driving on the highway (even if it's only for a short while), feels like going to another city.

It sure feels funny to go to, say, IKEA, which takes 15 minutes or so knowing that the IKEA store is in... Another country! (I go to the one in Belgium)

It's a complete change for me: last year I was in a rural area (in France) and the closest highway was a 50 minutes drive or so.

ianburrell2• 3 years ago

I think Luxembourg gets combined with European micro-states, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City, etc. But it is quite a bit bigger than them. Luxembourg is 5x bigger than Andorra and 3.5x smaller than Cyprus.

dveeden2• 3 years ago

Max Fosh: "I Rode A Barbie Bike Across An Entire Country"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGqTzcQjD2c

This was across Luxembourg as well.

xcdzvyn• 3 years ago

Max Fosh is a national treasure

klondike_klive• 3 years ago

This looks fun - but I just can't get past the Clarkson-like delivery that everyone seems to have these days.

Aeolun• 3 years ago

Got to love their Minecraft exports of any place in the country: https://blocks.geoportail.lu/custom_static/worlds/3fa997d2-b...

The recent ones seem to be broken, but old ones still have a working preview.

hiop• 3 years ago

Next time walk around Luxembourg.

gwbas1c• 3 years ago

Wow, that looks like a lot of fun! Maybe I'd try and do something like that over a week.

I also looked and Rhode Island is 70km north to south. I don't know if it has as many pubs and hotels as Matt encountered, though.

gkfasdfasdf2• 3 years ago

Does anyone know if a similar path (scenic, close to towns/cheap hostels along route) exists in the US? Somewhere in Appalachia perhaps?

LorenPechtel8• 3 years ago

Scenic, yes. Far more remote, though--you'll be spending a lot of nights in the wilderness and most of what you drink will be natural sources that you filter. Your cell phone will rarely work--assume a SOS will have to go by satellite.

Look up the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. All make his 4 day trip look like a stroll in the park--to do any of them in 4 *months* would be a very good performance. All require a certain amount of permitting, I know the PCT permits are by lottery (capacity restrictions), I'm pretty sure the CDT ones are not except for problems getting campsites in the national parks it passes through. No idea on the AT. To accomplish any of these in a single trip requires maintaining a good pace. There are people who have hopped around (doing hot parts in cool times and cool parts in hot times) and completed all three within a single calendar year--last I knew the number of such people exactly matched the number of moonwalkers.

If that's too big for you there are things like the Arizona trail (IIRC 800 miles) and the Colorado trail (I think it's under 500--but note that an awful lot of it is in the 10,000'+ range.) There is the Vermont Long Trail, no idea of the details. I know there are many others but they do not come to mind.

gkfasdfasdf2• 3 years ago

Yeah those hikes sound pretty epic. My original question was more about finding a tiny segment of those hikes that would be close to civilization and could be done in a few days.

I walked across Luxembourg

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